Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 97, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're having a good iPhone / back to school / it's-finally-not-hot-anymore week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) It's so good to be back! Huge, huge thanks to Jay Peters for doing such a fabulous job here over the last couple of months, and huge thanks to all of you as always for having such good contributions and ideas. Jay will still be around these parts from time to time, too, so don't worry, your esoteric gaming recommendations aren't going anywhere.I was going …Read the full story at The Verge.

What's cooler than an FPS with a solid movement system? Trick question, there is nothing. If an FPS lets you jump around the arena and parkour to your heart's content, it usually gets a pretty high rating from me. There's a good reason why I fell in love with Titanfall 2, and it wasn't just because of the mechs.

The average home now has dozens of networked devices, from computers to smart devices and streaming boxes. Each of these comes with different considerations about how they use the network, and that's an issue if they're all on the same IP range. Those smart home devices should really be kept away from the rest of your network. Streaming devices send tons of broadcast chatter out, and that's before getting into IP security cameras and other devices you may have set up. But there's a simple solution, using virtual LANs aka VLANs.

It’s been a few years since Netflix confirmed that Liam Hemsworth would be taking over as Geralt of Rivia in the live-action Witcher series. And while we caught a brief glimpse of him in action last year, the first proper clip from season 4 of the show reveals just how Hemsworth will be inhabiting the role — including his take on Geralt’s signature growling voice.In addition to giving us a better look at Geralt, Netflix also confirmed that The Witcher’s newest season is coming out pretty soon: it will start streaming on October 30th. The show’s end is in sight, as Netflix previously confirmed that it will conclude with season 5. Here’s the official setup for the next season:After the Continent-altering events of season 3, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies. As their paths diverge, and their goals sharpen, they stumble on unexpected allies eager to join their journeys. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance at reuniting for good…The Witcher originally debuted in 2019 with Henry Cavill as Geralt, and his time on the show wrapped up in disappointing fashion in 2023. But Netflix has been trying hard to turn the franchise into something bigger than a single series, with spinoffs like an animated film and a live-action prequel with Michelle Yeoh. Meanwhile, developer CD Projekt Red has a fourth Witcher game in the works, this time with Ciri in the lead role.

There's an entire world of automation out there for those looking to take their home lab a step further, or for fledgling business owners wanting to make their processes more efficient. On one side, n8n is a highly extensible, source-available, node-based workflow engine with a huge catalog and thriving community. On the other, Tines is a security-first orchestration platform built around HTTP-native "stories," auditability, and enterprise controls that security and IT teams tend to care about.

I really like working from home and having the ability to be in my own space, while also avoiding the necessity to commute on public transport. With that said, it can often be hard to communicate to family members, partners, or just the people that you're living with that you're inescapably busy at a given point in time, such as when you're on a meeting. That's why I built an "On Air" display using an ESP32-powered display.

There is a connection between people that were kids during the 90s and dinosaurs. Whether it was because everyone back then watched the first Jurassic Park film or any of the Land Before Time animated features, people love things with dinosaurs in them. This is why many different video games released over the years have included or featured dinosaurs somehow. One way or another, dinosaurs had a presence in games that made a significant impact. It was a time when dinosaurs truly ruled entertainment with an iron jaw.

Sorry folks, but this one's my bad. I made a wish that Windows had a way to monitor network speeds, so you can tell if your network traffic is slow or not. However, I had no idea that my wish was passed onto a monkey's paw, which instantly curled and added a stipulation to what I wanted.

Experimenting with self-hosted services has been one of the most rewarding ways for me to learn about running a server, working in Docker, and networking to tie it all together. While I'm still early in my self-hosting journey, I've tried my fair share of services. Some look great on paper, only to become more trouble than they’re worth. These five are the ones I gave a fair shot before finally pulling the plug.

SATA SSDs aren't the flashiest solid state drives out there anymore. We've got M.2 flash storage that fits easily into PCIe slots on your motherboard, and that sleek SSD format is quickly taking over most of the SSD market. Most of the new SSDs you see these days are M.2 NVMe, and for good reason. NVMe storage is faster, has less latency, and has no need for messy cables.

So, there are two really good apps for getting around Windows 11's system requirements and installing it on anything you want: Rufus and Flyoobe. The former is best for creating a USB stick with Windows 11 on it and installing it on multiple devices, and it even got a dark mode setting recently. Meanwhile, Flyoobe (previously Flyby11) is better for getting Windows 11 on one device, and then customizing your install afterward. It's why the app adopted the name "Flyoobe" because it's more focused on the "out-of-box experience" (OOBE).

You don't need expensive, complicated networking equipment to create a compelling home local area network (LAN). So long as your router and all other connected hardware work together and you have no issues running everything required, you're good to go. But should you wish to dabble in virtual LAN (VLAN) and other more advanced features, I highly recommend considering a managed switch.